GfK Buys Swiss Employee Research Firm

Swiss GfK subsidiary IHA-GfK has acquired market research and management consultancy CFI Trustmark. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CFI Trustmark was founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1992 to use the results of customer and employee research to focus on the analysis and development of high performance organisations. The firm currently carries out HR-related research projects for five of Switzerland's ten largest companies.

In 2006, CFI Trustmark generated sales totaling almost EUR 4 million. Co-founder and MD Wolfgang Schweiger will continue to lead the team of 20 staff under the new banner of GfK Trustmark. Schweiger explained to DRNO that his company would bring a number of very specialised research and consulting skills to IHA-GfK, including new methods in the fields of organisational research and customer experience.

Added Peter Hofer, CEO IHA-GfK: 'This move not only benefits our Swiss customers, but also provides specific customer and personnel management research skills to the world-wide GfK group.'

The GfK Group has 115 companies employing approximately 8,400 staff. Recently posted half year results showed overall organic growth of 4.9% (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7175.htm ). The firms are online at www.gfk.com , www.ihagfk.ch and www.cfigroup.ch.